Fieldnotes by stubob

It's taken 12years for the heather to claim back the Triple Cairn. But it's just about completed the job.
The kerbstones, the most impressive thing, to me, surrounding the cairns are completely covered and the only visible part is a small stoney area on its highest part, and this is only visible when you're right on top of the cairn.

Shame really, but the moor hasn't been managed after the Right To Roam came in, and the grouse shooting stopped at roughly the same time.

Top of Ecton Hill on a clear day in the Peak, for views, takes some beating. Swallow Moss, Axe Edge, the Hills of Parkhouse and Chrome, High Wheeldon fill the northern horizon. While the Wolfscote, Glutton, Narrowdale and Wetton hills dominate toward the southern one.
There Five barrows on Ecton Hill; this one, of three, on Hanging Bank being the pick of them. Excavations have left their mark but it survives as a pretty decent barrow in a Peak sorta way.

This Early Bronze Age settlement lays a couple of hundred metres south of the Nine Stone Close. There's no upstanding remains between the two low rock outcrops that occupy the site apart from a small circular mound of stones. These may be stones of field clearance although the circular nature of it looks a bit weird if that's the case.
We found a few flint flakes in the mole hills in the area.
G. A Makepeace described and excavated here in the 1960's, whether this was published I don't know but getting hold of the report may help in understanding the site.

Parking at Robin Hood it's a walk of about a mile up and along Under Pasture Edge to Dobb Edge; a sometimes hairy walk along the edge in places.

The stone's position is excellent with fine reaching views for the most part. To the north the horizon is filled with Birchen Edge, and moving westward, Gardom's Edge, Big Moor, Eaglestone Flats (although the Eagle Stone isn't visible on the horizon), Sir William Hill on Eyam Moor and Bretton Moor. To the west is Longstone Edge and Moor with Fin Cop prominent. The east rises up to Gibbet Moor via Peak o' Bill's Rocks and the White Peak occupies the southern horizon.

There's rocks galore in the area surely there's more rock art waiting to be uncovered/discovered here.

It's hard to think of the moors above Matlock as being part of the Eastern Moors. As today much of it has been improved, enclosed and afforested. Perhaps the only reminder is a part of Matlock Moor proper.
Tower, Blackbrook, Farley, Upper, Middle and Bottom Moors have all been interfered with to varying degrees.
As with the Eastern Moors to the north these southerly reaches too had Bronze Age monuments and settlement. Enclosure and the coming of the forest however consigned the monuments here to the history books; the Seven Brideron/Bretheren stone circle and the stone/cairn circle near Woodbrook Quarry both destroyed.
A couple of years ago I noticed that a stone was marked as having stood on Farley Moor on the first edition of the 1:2500 O.S map. As with other stones marked on old maps the stone could be anything of any age; marker stone, guide stone, boundary stone or even standing stone.
Working the position out on a modern map put the stones’ location in the middle of forestry. Thinking of the two destroyed circles I assumed the stone, whatever it was, to have long disappeared. How wrong I was.
Luckily, going by Google Earth a fair bit of the plantation had been cleared and the stone should stand just off the clearing in the trees.
And there it was around 6feet tall slender with a tapering top and well weathered. A post medieval marker stone didn’t seem to ring right; it seemed older for what that’s worth.
After researching the stone and area I could find nothing so in the end contacted the Peak Park Board.
In 2003 John Barnatt and Frank Robinson had visited the stone, very impressed, they surmised that with the stones position and weathering that it is quite possibly prehistoric; although excavation would only be able to say for definite.
If it is prehistoric the stone is the third largest standing stone on the Eastern Moors after the felled Old Woman’s Stone on Bamford Moor and the one on Gardom’s Edge.

These pair of stones are returning to nature. The little fenced rock garden, that houses the stones, is now overgrown in June and the designs are becoming moss covered. The stone with the lightly pecked motif is now completely lost to the moss; and many of the cup marks in the design of the neighbouring slab are also moss filled.

It may be the intention to let the stones get a more natural feel to them. Although I much preferred them when they were free of moss and the like and more of a feature in the garden. Each to their own.

I wasn't aware of the wishing side of things to this outcrop.....
I remember it from raves in the Butts Quarry in the early 90's when we would set off across Ashover and up the hill to watch sunrise from here.....and maybe try to break into the cold war listening station that's buried 30ft away.
On the rocks that surround the Fabrick are also nicely carved animals such as ducks, dogs and a donkey.

Parking spots at the T-Junction at the top of the hill and the rock is a pleasant flat walk of a quarter of a mile.

On the South Western doorstep of Minninglow the Roystone Rocks and the valley are a great place to explore.
There is so much interest here; in regards to TMA the barrows along the eastern edge of the valley are worth finding not for their remains
but their position and views over the Roystone Valley.
Much of what lies in the valley bottom dates to the Romano period, wall foundations, enclosures,house terraces right through to the foundations of a 13th Century grange and
excellent 13th Century stone walling.Along with todays working farm.

It's Roystone Rocks where the real interest lies. A small hiltop topped with a shattered limstone pavement with rocks that pertrude from the ground like rotten molars.
The rocks have been part excavated and part test pitted. Both Methods recovered a large amount of chert and flint tools and flakes dated to the Mesolithic. A hunting platform
has been identified on the rocks overlooking the western side, although I couldn't say where...on the western slopes are said to be Neolithic field plots, but once I again I couldn't tell from the natural.

All within Minninglow's shadow.

For a good read on the areas history try Richard Hodge's "Roystone Grange 6000years of a
Peakland Landscape"

On the higher ground just to the south of Gibbet Moor North are a handful of cairns of various sizes.
Hard to say whether they are burial or clearance cairns...the stones of Gibbet Moor North aren't visible from them.

Although this barrow survives only as a low tree surrounded mound. It is relatively easy to spot as it is sited by the roadside at the highest point of the estate road as it crosses Chatsworth Park.
The estates deer population often shelter amongst the trees.

To say how much landscaping has gone on in Chatsworth Parkthis barrow, although slightly disturbed at its centre, has survived quite well. Around 13m in diameter and about 1m in height.
Nearby, tree covered, Lindup Low is quite visible over the Park road.

Parking in Paxton's model village of Edensor in front of the church. The barrow is a five minute walk across the parkland.

The walled plantation that Blake Low is situated in probably hasn't done this barrow many favours. Trees, undergrowth and the likelihood of being robbed for its stone means the only real giveaway to its position is the telegraph pole that stands on the barrows top.
It also has quarries and the ugly Deep Rake fluorspar workings as close neighbours.

Two other barrows were recorded in the area. One to the south which has now completely vanished. The one still visible to the SE at Beacon Rod, and marked on the 1:25000 O.S map, has been described by John Barnatt, in his Barrow Corpus, as being a natural knoll.

This prominent, distinctively shaped hill is to the west of Longstone Edge/Moor and directly above Cressbrook Dale. Although part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve the hill is open access. Without trepassing the only way to get onto the hill is from Wardlow Mires, making your way up the Cressbrook Dale's eastern side above the outcrop of Peter's Stone and using the access land.

The barrow is sited right on top of Hay Cop and topped by a trig point. It survives to a decent height but the small summit of the hill adds to the height of the barrow depending on which side you view it. Disturbed slightly on one side it has however never been excavated, the steep sides of the hill possibly giving antiquarians second thoughts on ascending the hill.

An impressive barrow on the whole and I'll be back for another visit to take in the views. This time with a camera in my pocket and not in the glove box of the car.

I don't know if there was some sort of settlement up here or whether the area was used for seasonal camps or what. But the amount of flint I found milling about the fields on the common for a hour suggest something was going on here.

The fields are ploughed regularly each year and have been well manured in the past judging by the amount of 'blue and white' pottery and bits of clay pipe that are also to be found here.

Minninglow's trees are visible on southern horizon; only a stones throw away really.

As with the nearby One Ash round barrow there's nothing to see here its so ploughed out. Supposedly 40m long and 10m wide perhaps its the long grass that masks its presence but I somehow doubt it.
A trench was dug across the barrow within the last 30years but the findings were never published.
As with Harrod Low, the barrow for its type, is in a relatively low lying spot.
Pottery and flint have been found in the mole hills around the monument suggesting a camp perhaps.